CSTPR Noontime Seminar

Extreme events reconnaissance: Social science and interdisciplinary research in the disaster aftermath
***NEW ROOM LOCATION: UMC 415-417***
This talk will be available via webcast here.
Disaster researchers have been conducting field studies in the aftermath of major events since the 1950s. As disaster events increase in frequency and magnitude, more researchers are studying the impacts to the human and built environments. Yet, at present, the social science and interdisciplinary disaster research communities have:

no formal structure for organizing before, during, or after a disaster,
no established process for communicating pressing research needs, ongoing projects, or research outcomes to affected communities and decision-makers, and
no established culture regarding scientific agenda setting for rapid reconnaissance research.

This presentation will detail a new NSF-funded EArly-concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) project that is designed to establish a scientific platform and coordinating network for Social Science Extreme Events Reconnaissance (SSEER) and a second platform and network for Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Extreme Events Reconnaissance (ISEEER). SSEER and ISEEER will draw upon insights from the science of team science (SciTS) and leverage databases and information resources available at the University of Colorado Boulder Natural Hazards Center to increase the capacity of the social science, engineering, and interdisciplinary hazards and disaster research communities. The ultimate vision for the work is to prepare individual researchers and teams to carry out extreme events rapid reconnaissance research that is coordinated, comprehensive, coherent, ethical, and scientifically rigorous. 
Lori Peek is Director of the Natural Hazards Center and Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Colorado Boulder. She has written several award-winning publications including author of Behind the Backlash: Muslim Americans after 9/11, co-editor of Displaced: Life in the Katrina Diaspora, and co-author of Children of Katrina.
Peek is past Chair of the American Sociological Association Section on Environment and Technology and is currently the President of the Research Committee on Disasters for the International Sociological Association. She is a Board Member for the William Averette Anderson Fund, which is dedicated to increasing the number of underrepresented professionals in hazards and disaster research and practice.
Peek has won numerous awards for her teaching and mentoring, including the Colorado Board of Governor’s Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award. She currently teaches a graduate seminar in hazards and disasters, and a 410-student Introduction to Sociology course.